Washington continues to operate at the forefront of the NIL landscape. As one of the first schools to establish an NIL collective (Montlake Futures), the Huskies have consistently tried to anticipate the direction of the future of college athletics.
Those efforts continued on Friday with the announcement of Dawgs Unleashed, an internal NIL agency and influencer marketing unit geared towards increasing revenue opportunities and partnerships with Washington’s athletes.
The new department is designed to operate as the NIL liaison between Husky athletes and businesses, working with the athletic department’s existing multimedia rights partners and partner businesses to maximize NIL opportunities for the athletes. Friday’s press release also mentions the use of the previously announced broadcast and production studio being built on the UW campus to continue telling athletes’ stories through the Sundodger Creative unit.
Dawgs Unleashed will be helmed by 2016 graduate and former two-sport athlete Joe Knight, who has spent time in the athletic departments at both Seattle University and UW since graduating. Knight was most recently a Major Gift Officer for the university.
“The City of Seattle, combined with the brand affinity of UW, creates marketing opportunities for our student-athletes that are unmatched anywhere else in the country,” athletic director Pat Chun said of the venture. “With 12 Fortune 500 companies and many other outstanding businesses in our region, Dawgs Unleashed will capitalize on a metropolitan area that features some of the biggest brands in the world. We are thrilled that Joe Knight has agreed to serve as the inaugural executive director, and we look forward to the benefits of Joe’s ability to authentically connect with so many who can ensure our support of our student-athletes at the highest levels of intercollegiate athletics.”
Dawgs Unleashed will not replace Montlake Futures, serving instead as a complementary department to the existing collective to provide NIL opportunities to Husky athletes.